"I have written variations of this recommendation several times now, walking away from each paragraph feeling like I had failed to adequately praise Eula Biss for producing a work a work that has left me shaken, transformed, 'inoculated.' The proper language has eluded me—though language never seems to elude Biss, I assure you—however I have finally found the right word for this book: alive. It possesses a pulse that quickens with anxiety or joy or anguish; it is often indecisive; it is beautiful yet it also knows ugliness. It asks more questions than it can provide answers, though it remains sure of one thing: we owe each other our health. For anyone who has grown weary, like me, of the vitriol surrounding vaccines, read this book and watch as Biss wades into the fray with the elegance of a tightrope walker, calling attention to the lightness of her touch and the atmosphere that surrounds us."
Publisher Graywolf Press
Publication Date 2015-09-15
Section New Titles - Paperback / Essays / All Staff Suggestions / Fiction Suggestions / Benjamin Q.
Format Paperback
ISBN 9781555977207
The hugely acclaimed New York Times Best Seller, now available in paperback!
*A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist*
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2014:
The New York Times Book Review (Top 10), Entertainment Weekly (Top 10), New York Magazine, Chicago Tribune (Top 10), Publishers Weekly (Top 10), Time Out New York (Top 10), Los Angeles Times, Kirkus, Booklist, NPR's Science Friday, Newsday, Slate, Refinery 29, and many more...
In this bold, fascinating book, Eula Biss addresses our fear of the government, the medical establishment, and what may be in our children's air, food, mattresses, medicines, and vaccines. Reflecting on her own experience as a new mother, she suggests that we cannot immunize our children, or ourselves, against the world. As she explores the metaphors surrounding immunity, Biss extends her conversations with other mothers to meditations on the myth of Achilles, Voltaire's Candide, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Susan Sontag's AIDS and Its Metaphors, and beyond. On Immunity is an inoculation against our fear and a moving account of how we are all interconnected-our bodies and our fates.
